In the realm of gaming, few titles have captured the imagination quite like Labyrinth of the Demon King, a first-person survival horror experience set against the backdrop of Feudal Japan. The game’s immersive atmosphere is significantly enhanced by the unsettling soundscape crafted by composer Remu Daifuku. His unique approach to sound design results in a cacophony of disconcerting noises—gurgles, slurps, crunches, and eerie biwa string solos—that together create an auditory landscape reminiscent of a nightmarish descent into hell.
Creative Sound Design
Producer Andy Han facilitated a conversation with Daifuku, shedding light on the innovative techniques employed to generate such a haunting soundtrack. The process, as it turns out, involved a mix of creativity and a touch of discomfort. Daifuku recalls an amusing mishap: “I thought they’d sound good for her munching on the bones of her victim, so I grabbed them without hesitation only to realize they were terribly out of date,” he said. This led to an unexpected recording of him gasping for air as stale banana chips absorbed all the moisture in his mouth.
Despite the initial setback, Daifuku found a way to repurpose the recording. “I decided to pitch it down for laughs, but it actually sounded rather creepy and happened to fit the animation perfectly,” he explained. This playful experimentation is just a glimpse into the lengths Daifuku went to in order to evoke the game’s eerie ambiance.
Authentic Japanese Elements
Daifuku’s commitment to authenticity is evident in his choice of materials and locations for sound sampling. “My house is really old and basically looks identical to the towers in Labyrinth of the Demon King, so I just sampled that extensively,” he noted. Additionally, he had the opportunity to record the town’s bonshō bell, further enriching the game’s soundscape with genuine cultural elements.
To amplify the hellish quality of the audio, Daifuku ingeniously constructed a custom daxophone that utilized old nokogiri blades instead of traditional wooden tongues. This unique instrument, while horrifying in sound, aligns with the game’s historical context. A nokogiri is a type of metal saw, and the daxophone, a stringed instrument invented in Germany in the 1980s, was adapted to fit a pre-modern technological profile.
Final Touches
The finishing touch to this intricate sound design involved running the recordings through an old tape machine, which added a gritty, lo-fi texture that complements the game’s visual aesthetics. The deliberate choice to utilize a less-than-perfect tape deck aligns seamlessly with the game’s blurry, dithered presentation, which consistently showcases a 4:3 aspect ratio.
For those intrigued by the haunting sounds of Labyrinth of the Demon King, Remu Daifuku’s soundtrack is available for listening on platforms like YouTube and itch.io, while the full game can be explored on Steam.
